Tracking Macros

It’s incredibly beneficial to keep a log of the food you eat along with the calories, carbs, fat, and protein that you consume with those foods. In fact, a 2011 meta-analysis of 22 studies on self-monitoring found this:

“All of the 15 studies that focused on dietary self-monitoring found significant associations between self-monitoring and weight loss.”

In other words, tracking your calories is a great way to boost your results.

But why is counting calories so effective for so many people? There are a couple of reasons:

Portion Confusion. Manufacturers tend to keep their serving sizes low so that you interpret the product as being healthier for you. By tracking your calories, you will no longer be tricked by the cunning food marketers and will eat more reasonable portions because of it.

Hidden Carbs. If a label says it has zero carbs, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it has absolutely no carbs. It means that there are less than 0.5 grams of carbs per serving. Anytime you see 0 grams of carbs on the nutrition facts label that has a sugar-containing ingredient on it, it is best to assume that it has 0.5 grams of net carbs per serving.

Delusional Beliefs. When we are not measuring and tracking the foods we eat, we tend to underestimate how many calories we are actually consuming. We are wired to eat as much as possible when food is available, and calorie tracking is the perfect way to mitigate those primal responses to food.

These are the main reasons why some keto dieters don’t get the results they are expecting. Luckily, as long as you use a calorie tracker like MyFitnessPal or Cronometer, you won’t have to worry about any of these issues getting in your way.